Blog Awards

Monday, June 16, 2008

That's right.All over the country, bloggers are posting healthy recipes as "It's swimsuit season!"Well, I'm here to sabotage your diet, since I myself may need to shy away from the glorious California sunshine.The culprit?Take a looky here:

Hubby doesn't request many sweets; I'm usually the instigator (and creator) of sweets in our household. However, the other day he simply and randomly requested a crumb cake, and a plain one at that. Having never seen him eat one in my life, I wasn't sure where this request came from but how could I resist a culinary challenge?

If you're going to splurge, you might as well go all out. I toyed with making a 'light' recipe, but wanting to create the best recipe, I went straight to the recipe experts: Cook's Illustrated.If you've never had the treat of enjoying their recipes, check out The New Best Recipe; it's literally a Cook's bible. The Cook's Illustrated recipe testers take a methodical and almost scientific approach to recipe testing, substituting ingredients and cooking methods until a recipe is perfected. Straight out of the oven, I knew America's Test Kitchen wasn't lying when they claimed this recipe had been perfected:

As much as I may drool over Entenmanns in the store, we agreed that this crumb cake is far superior and thankfully minus all the weird chemical ingredients. Using cake flour, this cake has a delicate and moist crumb unlike anything I've ever baked.The cinnamon brown sugar crumb topping piles up high, in almost a 50:50 ratio to the cake.Best of all, the cake is not overly sweet and would be perfect with a cup of coffee and as a very nutritious start to your day ;) I also spotted this recipe on Sugar & Spice where Chelley had cut these bad boys into little bite sized pieces and served them in cupcake liners - very cute!

Oh, and for all you Tastespotting lovers, a couple of sites have gone up in their honor. Go check 'em out:

4. Transfer batter to baking pan; using rubber spatula, spread batter into even layer. Following photos below, break apart crumb topping into large pea-sized pieces and spread in even layer over batter, beginning with edges and then working toward center. Bake until crumbs are golden and wooden skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool on wire rack at least 30 minutes. Remove cake from pan by lifting parchment overhang. Dust with confectioners’ sugar just before serving.

mmm... looks delish! I, too, have been neglecting my over-30-and-not-getting-any-younger bod in lieu of tasty treats (took a class on brioche , including some to-die-for cinnamon rolls.) here's to newlyweds! must be something about all that new cookware: I've been cooking up a storm since I got married last year!

that is one heck of a crumb topping! this is a keeper recipe for me because i greatly prefer the topping to the actual cake. yes, i've been known to nibble on the top and leave the bottom...but don't worry, the cake portion can be saved for trifles! :)

First of all, this looks fabulous. Second of all, your observation of everyone else's blogs and swimsuit season cracked me up. We're not worrying much about swimsuits around here either. What else did I get married and have 2 kids for if not the right to stop trying to look amazing in the summer? ;)

(OK I am not sure I ever qualified as amazing, but you get the drift... bring on the dessert!)